Chandigarh, August 14:
Armed with the resolute will to provide ration at the doorstep of the people, the State Government shall undertake the home delivery service of atta from 1st October this year.
The scheme shall be implemented across the State in a single phase. The entire state has been divided into eight zones.
Disclosing this, the Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Minister Mr. Lal Chand Kataruchak said that under the scheme, the Government shall offer, to every beneficiary enrolled under NFSA, the option of home delivery of Atta. Any beneficiary, who wishes to physically collect his entitlement of wheat from a Fair Price Shop (FPS), shall have an option of OPT-OUT through a suitable IT intervention freely available to him. The delivery cycle of distribution shall now be changed from quarterly to monthly cycle.
The Home Delivery Service shall introduce the concept of Mobile Fair Price Shops (MPS). The MPS shall be a transport vehicle, preferably fitted with GPS facility and cameras to live stream the handing over of Atta to the beneficiary, said the Minister adding it shall mandatorily have the facility of weighing scales in order to satisfy the customer about the weight of the Atta before it is delivered. All mandatory requirements of biometric verification, handing over of printed weight slip to the beneficiary, etc. shall be provided by the MPS. All MPS licences shall be issued by the Department of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs. An MPS shall enjoy a status similar to the ‘Fair Price Shop’ under the NFSA. Only MPS shall offer the facility of home delivery of Atta.
A Special Purpose Vehicle shall be formed by MARKFED to undertake all activities required to successfully offer the service of Home Delivery of Atta to the beneficiaries of NFSA. The State Government shall bear the entire cost of grinding Wheat into Atta even though the guidelines framed under NFSA allowed the recovery of these grinding charges from the beneficiary. The new service is, therefore, expected to result in a saving of about Rs. 170 crore for the beneficiaries as regards their present expenditure on converting Wheat into Atta at the local atta chakki, added Mr. Kataruchak.
